In this case the push is from the new App Engine Channel API, which allows server-based apps to pop up notices on a user's screen in near-real time despite the stateless nature of the browser, which usually requires an agent running on the client to constantly check for changes on the server.

The new version of App Engine also expands the length of time a task can run from 30 seconds to 10 minutes, and expands the size of the data block an app can request from another site from 1MB to 32MB, and allows for four simultaneously active data stores rather than just two.

However, the enhancements to App Engine do go a long way toward making it more than just an afterthought for end users interested in cloud computing, or a place for dev and test crews to test new ideas for Web apps without gumming up their own servers.